Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Treat Every Week like it's Shark Week

I sadly somehow haven’t seen my old roommate Nicole since we moved out of our old place in Hell’s Kitchen. I would have invited her to do her 28 Things
suggestion with me, but I knew she wasn’t interested. She is not into having
water from the Hudson River hit her in the face, but didn’t seem to mind
suggesting it to me.

#12 Take a ride on a speedboat around the city

So, because I’m not a liar, I will say that Nicole actually suggested that I
take a ride on the Beast, not just any old speedboat. I made an executive decision to instead to take
a ride on the Shark which looks exactly the same to me, because I found
discounted tickets and this 28 Things project has not been light on my wallet. Both the Beast and the Shark are run by Circle Line.

The ride was so much fun! It was basically a mobile nightclub but during the
day and without any creepy guys. They played loud music through the speakers and
gave shoutouts to the skyscrapers and islands we passed. People on the boat
were dancing and wooing and had their arms up like they were on a
rollercoaster. It was actually quite a thrill. We were going a lot faster than
I thought we would, went over every wave, leaned to each side as if we were
going to flip quite a few times, and did get hit with plenty of water, although
the other side of the boat had it a lot worse than us. The boat also paused for a few minutes in front of the Freedom Tower and the Statue of Liberty.

Holding on for dear life.

Freedom.

The waves and the city.

From a little further back.

The lady.

The Lady on one end, Freedom on the other.

Going back in time.

The Brooklyn Bridge and three of my favorite buildings.

We also got a special surprise because the President was coming into town and we saw his three helicopters fly in and land on the dock.

When this item was first put this on my list, I was thinking of it just as a fun
ride to be honest, but really, the Shark is an amazing opportunity to see the
city from a different viewpoint. That particular week was the 11th anniversary
of September 11th and was the same week
we went to the Empire State Building. It was really a perfect idea to see the city from
two such different views than usual that particular week. It makes you appreciate your city even more than you thought you did.